Fantagraphics Blog

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Popular culture historian Rick Marschall and biographer/researcher Warren Bernard have compiled here [in Drawing Power] a captivating potted history of the rise of the art of commercial cartooning in an increasingly advertising-aware America (…and make a strong argument that one could not have thrived without the other) whilst providing a glorious panoply of staggeringly evocative, nostalgic and enduring picture-poems which shaped the habits of a nation…. Stuffed with astounding images, fascinating lost ephemera and mouth-watering photos of toys and trinkets no fan could resist, this colossal collection is a beautiful piece of cartoon…

Eeeee!!! I totes want this tote! Yesterday, our friends at SPX revealed this year's gorgeous tote bag design, featuring exclusive artwork by guest-of-honor Jim Woodring. Click here to see a larger version of the pic above, and really take in all the glorious details on this thing. It will only be available at the 2011 Small Press Expo, happening September 10th & 11th in Bethesda, Maryland… and, I don't think it's gonna last long! (Kim! Gary! Somebody grab one for me!!) More SPX details will be announced very soon! Make sure to take note of our panel schedule in the…

The Frank Book (New Softcover Edition) by Jim Woodring 352-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $34.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-500-6 Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) – Pre-Order Now The Frank Book (New Hardcover Printing) by Jim Woodring 352-page black & white/color 8.75" x 11.25" hardcover • $45.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-513-6 Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) – Pre-Order Now eaders who haven't discovered Jim Woodring's Frank stories will find a treat waiting for them in the pages of this book. Since publication in 1991 of the award-winning, epoch-making "Frank in the River," these lusciously hypnotic fables have dazzled cartoon…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: At his High-Low blog Rob Clough posts his belated Top 50 Books of 2010 list, with Megan Kelso's Artichoke Tales at #1, 4 of our books in the top 5, 5 in the top 10, 8 in the top 20, and 14 overall in the top 50 — it's a long but worthwhile read • Review: "Calling Congress of the Animals recommended reading is a bit misleading. It’s definitely recommended, but it doesn’t technically involve reading. The entire book doesn’t feature a single word bubble. The only words are on the book jacket….

Jason shares his artwork for the back cover of his upcoming story collection Athos in America and it makes a fine counterpoint to the front cover.

The Bumbershoot Music & Arts festival is upon us again, and if you can navigate through the drum circles and shishkaberry lines, here's where you can find some Fantagraphics: Bumber By Number: local culture vultures Marlow Harris and Jo David are featuring a fully-immersive and interactive paint-by-numbers art exhibit, which will also feature vintage paint-by-numbers kits altered by our own Jim Blanchard and Jim Woodring. [ That's a shot of Blanchard's piece above, which will be for sale! ] If you wanna check out Bumber By Number and the rest of this year's visual art offerings, head to Seattle Center…

When someone at Staten Island comic shop Comic Book Jones tweeted about their tattoo of the NYC cityscape based on a Tony Millionaire drawing, we knew we had to see it and share it with all our Flog readers. And look what else we found in their Twitpic archives: one of their customers with a neck tattoo (!) of Michael Kupperman's Snake 'n' Bacon and a panel from Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6 on his arm!

Brazilian publisher Gal Editora put together this spiffy trailer for their translated edition of our Blazing Combat collection (Combate Inglório). It works pretty well as an advertisement for our edition too, even if you don't read Portuguese. Perhaps someday I'll teach myself how to make trailers like this; in the meantime you can check out our video preview too. (Via Bleeding Cool.)

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: Forming by Jesse Moynihan: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new udpates): Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "It would take Gottfredson a few years to hit his stride: Many of his best Mickey stories appeared in the later ’30s and ’40s. But the basic characteristics that would make the print version of Mickey popular after the studio curtailed his animated antics can clearly be seen in these first installments…. Race to Death Valley is the latest entry in Fantagraphics’ reprints of classic comic strips, and is sure to delight fans of Mickey Mouse as well as comic strip aficionados. The strips are clearly printed in a readable size, and editors…